Systems and methods for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks

ABSTRACT

Implementations of the metal polishing processes of the present disclosure machine polish patterns onto metal using various abrasive disks. The abrasive disks can be machine controlled using programmed commands. In some implementations, the programmed commands are derived based on the desired pattern using computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. The programmed commands automatically operate a machine to polish a pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 61/648,095, which was filed on May 17, 2012, and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to systems and methods for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks.

BACKGROUND

Existing metal polishing processes involve hand polishing metal. Thus, the size of metal polishing projects is relatively small. Furthermore, the patterns achieved with hand polishing can be limited or laborious and time consuming to achieve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Implementations of the metal polishing processes of the present disclosure machine polish patterns onto metal using various abrasive disks. The abrasive disks can be machine controlled using programmed commands. In some implementations, the programmed commands are derived based on the desired pattern using existing and future developed computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. The programmed commands automatically operate a machine to polish a pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks. In some embodiments, any existing or future developed machine that is operated using programmed commands for metal can be used to polish a pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks. In some embodiments, computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools can be used. In some embodiments, the machine used to polish a pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks can be any existing or future developed machine for shaping or machining metal but adapted to fit an abrasive disk.

The abrasive disks can vary based on shape, size, and grit, for example, to achieve a desired pattern on the metal. In some embodiments, the abrasive disks include various sizes and grades of 3M Roloc™ Bristle Discs or molded, abrasive-filled brush-like bristle discs. In some implementations, the abrasive disks are wire brushes. In some embodiments, the shape of the abrasive disks can be circular, and various sizes and grades of circular abrasive disks can be used to achieve a desired pattern. The amount of pressure applied to the abrasive disks by the CAD/CAM technology also can vary to aide in achieving a desired pattern on the metal.

In some embodiments, a pattern can be machined polished onto any metal product. In some embodiments, a pattern can be machine polished onto a metal sheet. The metal sheet can include zinc, copper, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, brass, composite metals, or any other metal.

The patterns that can be machine polished onto metal using one or more abrasive disks can be unlimited. The patterns can range from abstract patterns to realistic images.

The methods for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using various abrasive disks can use CAD and CAM programs to produce a computer file that is interpreted to extract the commands needed to operate a particular machine via a postprocessor, and then loaded into the machine to polish the pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks In some embodiments, a jpeg image (or any other image format) of the pattern can be converted into a line drawing, which can be vector-based, to be used by the CAD and CAM programs 100. The image can be converted into a line drawing manually or automatically. The line drawing can have multiple layers where the lines from different layers can overlap. This can correspond to the abrasive disks polishing the same area of a metal multiple times. The lines can have varying thickness based on the underlying drawing. A line thickness can correspond to a size (e.g., diameter) of an abrasive disk that ultimately will be used to polish the line on the metal. In some embodiments, the line drawing can be created using existing of future developed imaging processing and/or graphic software including but not limited to Adobe Photoshop. The line drawings then can be provided to a CAD program 110 for further processing and then to a CAM program 115 to produce a computer file that is interpreted to extract the commands needed to operate a particular machine via a postprocessor. The computer file is loaded into the machine 120 to polish the pattern onto metal using the abrasive disks 130. In some embodiments, the pattern can be created using a CAD program.

In some implementations, the processes and logic flows described in this specification can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output thereby tying the process to a particular machine (e.g., a machine programmed to perform the processes described herein). The processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit).

Some embodiments may be implemented, for example, using a machine or tangible computer-readable medium or article which may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, if executed by a machine, may cause the machine to perform a method and/or operations in accordance with the embodiments.

Such a machine may include, for example, any suitable processing platform, computing platform, computing device, processing device, computing system, processing system, computer, processor, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware and/or software. The machine-readable medium or article may include, for example, any suitable type of memory unit, memory device, memory article, memory medium, storage device, storage article, storage medium and/or storage unit, for example, memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analog media, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW), optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memory cards or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a tape, a cassette, or the like. To the extent not included above, computer readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data also includes all forms of nonvolatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD ROM disks. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

The instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, encrypted code, and the like, implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language. To the extent not included above, such instructions also can comprise, for example, interpreted instructions, such as script instructions, e.g., JavaScript or ECMAScript instructions, or executable code, Standard interchange language (SIL), Component Object Model (COM) enabled programming languages, or other instructions stored in a computer readable medium including existing and future developed instructions specific to CAD and CAM program, imaging processing and/or graphic software, machines for metal, computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, and machines for shaping or machining metal.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical quantities (e.g., electronic) within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

To provide for interaction with a user, implementations of the subject matter described in this specification can be operable to interface with a computing device that is integrated with or connected to (directly or indirectly) a display, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user. To provide for input by a user to the computer, implementations of the subject matter described in this specification further can be operable to interface with a keyboard, a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball), scanner, a barcode reader, magnetic strip reader, or any other input device.

The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the above description, numerous specific details are provided for a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that embodiments of the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations may not be shown or described in detail. Furthermore, while this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any invention or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular implementations of particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation can also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the implementations described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad techniques of the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while the embodiments of this invention have been described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the embodiments of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications and other embodiments will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of this disclosure.

Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment” or “implementation” or words of similar import means that a particular described feature, structure, or characteristic is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the phrase “in an embodiment” or a phrase of similar import in various places throughout this specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. 

1. An system for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks comprising: a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor on a machine causes the machine to polish a pattern onto metal using one or more abrasive disks; and one or more abrasive disks controlled by the machine, wherein the instructions are derived based on a desired pattern to be polished on the metal.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine is a machine for shaping or machining metal and configured to use one or more abrasive disks to polish a metal.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the instructions are derived from a vector-based line drawing of the pattern processed by a CAM program.
 4. The system of claim 3 wherein an instruction to use a particular abrasive disk to a polish a line from the line drawing on the metal is based on the thickness of the corresponding line in the line drawings.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more abrasive disks are abrasive-filled brush-like bristle disc.
 6. A computer implemented method for machine polishing a pattern onto metal using abrasive disks, the method comprising: determining instructions for a machine to polish a pattern onto metal; and machine polishing the pattern onto the metal using one or more abrasive disks based on the instructions.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 wherein the metal is polished using a machine for shaping or machining metal and configured to use one or more abrasive disks to polish the metal.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 6 wherein determining instructions for a machine to polish a pattern onto metal comprises processing a vector-based line drawing of the pattern using a CAM program.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 8 wherein an instruction to use a particular abrasive disk to polish a line from the line drawing on the metal is determined on the thickness of the corresponding line in the line drawings.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 6 wherein the one or more abrasive disks are abrasive-filled brush-like bristle disc.
 11. A machine configured to polish a pattern onto metal using one or more abrasive disks.
 12. The machine of claim 11 wherein the machine is a machine for shaping or machining metal and configured to use the one or more abrasive disks to polish the metal.
 13. The machine of claim 10 wherein the one or more abrasive disks are abrasive-filled brush-like bristle disc. 